Are You Tending To The Four Areas Of Personal Growth?

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by Shannon Skinner

This morning, I review my life’s purpose and mission statement, as I do first thing most mornings, and I ask myself: have I grown enough as a human being?

Reviewing and refining my mission statement, goals, dreams and a gratitude list on a daily basis has been one of the most powerful exercises to manifest and stay focused, especially in a time when my attention is demanded in so many different places. Many people like to create vision boards, but for me, this is a better option because there is real power in writing it down and refining.

But on this morning, I question what success looks like outside the context of career, business and finance. What about being successful as a whole human being? What does success look like as a mother, wife, daughter, granddaughter, aunt, friend, partner, community member and so forth?

Success is something a lot of people want, if the plethora of “how-to” material available in the marketplace is any indication. I have interviewed hundreds of (mostly) women about their journeys to success. As we know, success is relative. For me, it means following my heart. I have come to the conclusion, though, that success is an over-used word and like so many over-used words (think inspire and hero) in our vocabulary, it is losing its power. Perhaps what we need is to invent new language that expresses different meanings of success.

With 2016 fast-approaching, and as I soon enter a new chapter of my life, I have decided that instead of focusing on success, my aim is “growth” — that is, to grow more as a whole human being. With that in mind, I have identified the four corners of growth that are necessary for self-actualization:

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